Access to Finance Training Yields Results

A maize farmers organization in Ghana’s Ashanti Region has succeeded in making a much needed equipment purchase with an approximate USD $51,733 bank loan secured as a result of USAID training and coaching.

The Agribusiness and Trade Association (AGRITA) has 134 members, who collectively produce about 18,000 metric tons of maize a year, mostly for export to Burkina Faso and Niger through Ejura in the Ashanti region, and Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region.

Since its establishment in 2006, AGRITA has faced many challenges in production equipment, storage facilities, and product marketing. AGRITA asked for technical assistance from USAID ATP to find fi-nancing for equipment. The project responded by organizing skills training sessions for association executives on access to finance, loan negotiation, writing competitive business plans, and finance management.  A second round of more intensive training in the Twi local language was provided by a maize farmer and trader who himself had undergone USAID training.

In the final week of their follow-up training, AGRITA members wrote a business plan and with $13,000 of their own money, applied for a loan from Sekyedomase Rural Bank to be used for the purchase of equipment for their members’ use. Because of the professionalism of the business plan and the applicants’ newly-gained negotiating skills, it took the bank only two weeks to process the application and make the money available.

AGRITA’s loan was used to purchase two Massey Ferguson 375 tractors from Senaky Enterprise in Ashaiman, near Tema, Ghana. The association rents the equipment to its members, which in turn generates funds for the loan repayment, while meeting members’ needs to plow their farmlands in a timely manner, thus getting their product to market sooner.

AGRITA president Mr. Godwin Oduro is delighted with both the process and the result.
“In the past, we never attempted to secure loans from the bank be-cause of the difficulties involved, particularly for farmers,” he said, “but when we had this training, we understood many things and learned the ways to go about applying for loans. We went ahead to practice what we learned and that has yielded good fruits.”

Now the association is looking at the possibility of becoming owners of a 24-metric ton capacity warehouse to add value to the maize trade.